I don’t think Philip and I were unique in thinking we wanted to have a “cool” wedding. We wanted to have a big party wtih our friends and family. We wanted it to be laid back, we wanted people to dance, we wanted the food and drinks to be good.
We knew the ceremony would be at First United Methodist Church in Hurst, which is surrounded by neighborhoods. There is not a brand new, perfect, ceremony location for 100-150 people in walking distance. Our mothers did their best to talk us into a cake and punch reception in Fellowship Hall, which would have been lovely, but not the rocking party we envisioned…
Philip had played a gig with his string trio at the North Richland Hills Center–a new, LEED certified facility within 10 minutes of the church. The style was transitional, there was a little outdoor area you could utilize (which peaked our interest when our wedding was going to be in October…), and it was affordable. But they, like all the places we looked at, had some rules–you must use one of their approved caterers and alcohol vendors. Apparently, North Richland Hills has some particulars about who serves alcohol in North Richland Hills, and that left 2 options for our bar. Neither of which we were thrilled with (we didn’t have any unusual requirements for our bar, but we hated being limited).
After some time spent on theknot.com (love/hate that site), I found 809 at Vickery–how did I not know this place existed? It wasn’t far from my apartment, but, really, how often do I drive down Vickery near the Justin factory? We went checked it out one night after work. I was sold. We loved that it was industrial, that it was simple, it was a blank slate (without being barren), it had Christmas lights, you could bring in whatever vendors you wanted–they did have some preferred caterers, but it included Blue Mesa Grill, which is one of our favorite happy hours! I don’t think we had even considered Blue Mesa as a possibility (tacos and margaritas in a cool space?!!?) Downside: it was 20 minutes from the church AND it was the most expensive place we looked at for the reception.
Before EVERYONE involved was settled on booking 809 at Vickery, I offered to visit one more place–the Colleyville Center. It’s a lovely facility not too far from the church (farther than NRH Center, closer than 809 at Vickery), affordable, big beautiful windows, open to different vendors, perfectly great space to have our wedding reception. I just didn’t love it. I didn’t get AS excited about it as I did 809 at Vickery. Philip agreed that if money were no object, he’d prefer 809 at Vickery, but being the logical Philip that he is, would be happy with Colleyville Center and would like to save money whenever possible.
I played my “bride” card. (Is that a thing? Let’s make it a thing. I don’t get to do it anymore anyway. I’m pretty sure that’s the only time I did it…) I mean, everyone was happy with 809 at Vickery. I had to do a bit more convincing and conceptualizing (we’ll save money here, we won’t need to do this…). When we first walked in there, I knew it was the place to have our reception. That was it–decision made! Why didn’t everyone else think so?!? (not everyone things like you, Marie) It’s always best to go with your gut, so I fought hard for everyone to go with MY gut. We were thrilled with the results. The end result felt very “us” (industrial?)–no too fancy, laid back, a great place to have fun!
Marie Durrett 